5 Signs Your Operator Panel Has Trained Your Operator
Spend enough time with an aging operator panel and eventually somebody figures out exactly how to make it cooperate.
Press a little harder. Tap just to the left of the button. Give the screen a second. Whatever you do, don’t touch that corner.
Then that operator teaches the next operator. Before long, the workaround becomes part of the process—even though nobody remembers when it started.
Operators are pretty good at adapting to equipment problems. The trouble is, those little workarounds can make a deteriorating HMI or operator interface seem like less of a problem than it really is.
Here are five signs your operator panel may have started training the operator.
1. The Touchscreen Has a “Sweet Spot”
The button on the screen says one thing. The spot you actually have to touch is somewhere slightly to the left, right, above, or below it.
Everyone who regularly runs the machine knows exactly where to press. New operators learn quickly.
Touchscreens can become worn, damaged, or less responsive over time. If operators are compensating for dead areas or inaccurate touch response, it may be worth having the unit evaluated before the problem gets worse.
2. Some Buttons Require a Little…Persuasion
A normal button press no longer gets the job done.
Maybe you have to press harder. Maybe you have to hold it for a second. Maybe it works better if you use your thumb.
Worn keypads and membrane switches are common problems on older operator interfaces. What begins as an occasional missed input can eventually turn into a button that doesn’t respond at all.
If “press harder” has become part of the operating procedure, the panel is probably trying to tell you something.
3. The Display Needs Time to Wake Up
Turn on the equipment and the display is dim, slow, flickering, or blank. Give it a few minutes, though, and everything seems to come back to life.
That may be good enough to get production moving today, but intermittent display problems have a habit of becoming less intermittent.
Fading or unreliable displays can make it difficult for operators to see machine status, alarms, settings, and other important information. Waiting for the screen to cooperate shouldn’t be part of startup.
4. Everyone Knows Which Button Not to Press
Every machine seems to have one.
“Don’t use that button.”
“Use this one instead.”
“That one works sometimes, but I wouldn’t risk it.”
When operators have developed alternate ways of navigating around a problem, it can become easy to forget that the workaround exists because something isn’t working correctly.
The operator may have adapted. The control panel hasn’t fixed itself.
5. The Instructions Include “Sometimes You Have To…”
Sometimes you have to press it twice.
Sometimes you have to restart it.
Sometimes you have to wait a minute.
Sometimes you have to tap the corner of the screen first.
When unofficial instructions start getting passed from one shift to the next, it may be time to find out what is actually going on with the operator interface.
Maybe the Operator Shouldn’t Have to Know the Trick
A troublesome operator panel doesn’t always need to be replaced.
Depending on the unit and the problem, worn touchscreens, keypads, displays, power supplies, and other electronic components may be repairable. That can be particularly valuable when you're dealing with an older or obsolete operator interface that is already integrated into the machine.
Control System Labs repairs industrial operator interfaces and control stations, including PanelViews, Injectvisors, Pathfinders, SIMATIC panels, and many others.
Before a small workaround becomes a bigger problem, consider having the control evaluated.
Your operators already have enough to remember. How to convince the control panel to work shouldn’t be one of them.
Need an Operator Panel Evaluated?
If your HMI or operator control has developed a few “personality quirks,” send us the manufacturer and model number along with a description of what it’s doing.
We can help determine whether repair may still be an option.